Strangers 'First Kiss' in a clothing ad melts hearts

Wren clothing line created a video that went viral featuring 20 strangers meeting for the first time.

Tatia PIlieva

“First Kiss” is a viral video that has been floating around our social media newsfeeds since Monday. The director, Tatia Pilieva, asked 20 strangers to join her in a blank room, pair up with one other person and then kiss for the first time. They would be doing this in front of her camera. Even though the result looked like a real-life romance sped up, it was actually an advertisement for clothing.

Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

During the video, we watched two strangers at a time meet. Each couple began with an adorably awkward greeting. They prepared themselves for the kiss with some coy flirting. After we met each couple, the video turned into a more intimate encounter.

Even though this video could melt anyone’s romantic heart, the main intention was to promote the Los Angeles womenswear brand Wren. They were pushing their new fall fashion collection. In fact, the cast was friends of Wren’s founder and creative director, Melissa Coker. Coker told Fashionista that she was in disbelief by the attention “First Kiss” received.

From a marketing standpoint, this video was a great promotional tactic. The key to a marketing campaign – digital or traditional – is finding a way to make it viral. This campaign easily tackled that aspect. Wren’s execution of “First Kiss” was a great decision.

Wren had a better chance of getting their video shared throughout social media with a documentary-like video featuring the profound truth about a real-life romance rather than a couple of hot models making out in an ad.

International Women's Day is coming up on March 8th, and to celebrate, YouTube has launched a #DearMe campaign. The initiative asks women to record their answers to the question: "If you could go back in time, what wisdom would you share with your...